Machine for making eyeglass-springs



3 Sheets-Sheet l.

E. J.-WATSON.

MACHINE-FOR MAKING EYEGLASS SPRINGS. No. 811,548.

Patented Feb. 3, 1885,

N PETERS. Fllolmlllhugmph (ModeL) 3 Sheets She-et 2.

E. J. WATSON.

MACHINE FOR MAKING EYEGLASS SPRINGS.

No. 311,548. Patented Feb. 3,1885.

(Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

E. J. WATSON.

MACHINE FOR MAKING EYBGLASS SPRINGS.

No. 311,548. Patented Feb. 3, 1885.

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I nurse Sra'rns PATENT @rrrea EDWIN J. WATSON, or WonoESTEE,MASSACHUSETTS.

ACi-ilNE FOR MAKlNG EYEGLASS=SPRINGS.

SPECIFIQATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 311,548, dated February3, 1885.

Application filed July S, 1881. (Model) T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN J. n'rsoN, of the city and county ofW'orcester, and Cour monwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new anduseful Machine for Manufacturing Eyeglasssprings by a Continuous andAutomatic Operation; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, inwhich Figure 1 represents atop or plan View ofmy aforesaid machine formanufacturing eyeglasssprings. Fig. 2 represents aside view of saidmachine shown in Fig. 1, looking in the direc tion indicated by arrow 0,same figure. Fig. 3 represents a front side view of the machine, lookingin the direction indicated by arrowf, Fig. 1, showing, as do also Figs.1 and 2, the metal strip from which the springs are made as having beenfed forward into said machine preparatory to its being cut and bent overthe former of the machine, as will be hereinafter more full y described.Figs. 4 and 5 represent vertical sections through portions of themachine, taken on lines ab and ml, respectively, looking in thedirection shown by arrow 9. Fi 6 represents a vertical section throughanother part of the machine, taken on line a, which will be hereinaftermore fully described.

M y invention relates to the manufacture of springs such as are usedupon eyeglasses for supporting and holding the same in position upon thebridge of the nose.

It consists in constructing and arranging the several parts of a machineso that a long flat strip of metal (from which the springs are made,which may be coiled upon a spool or reel at a short distance to one sideof the machine) maybe drawn forward and fed into and through saidmachine, short sections cut from the end of the strip, and said sectionsbent around the surface of a former as fast as they are cut off to formand give to the springs their required shape, all by a continuous andautomatic operation, which will be hereinafter more fully described.

In the drawings and specification I have shown and described a formerhaving irregular curved surfaces over which the metal is bent to formthe springs; but in the model, which by request was subsequentlyfurnished, I have shown, instead of said former, an equivalent deviceconsisting of two stationary pins or studs fastened in a stationary partand so arranged that the metal may be bent to form the springs in asimilar way to that shown in the drawings, the reason for making saidchange in the model being that I found said devicein practice to be themost desirable and convenient for adjustment.

Up to the present time springs for eyeglasses have been made entirely byhand by the use of some simple device which can be operated by means ofa hand-lever, or by connecting said hand-lever with a suitablefoottreadle. As will be seen, this is a very slow, and thereforeexpensive, method, necessitating the employment of a considerable numberof bands, which may be dispensed with by the use of one of my machines,one operative being enabled by the employment of said ma chine toproduce the work of several by the aforesaid old method, and the springsthus produced are much more perfectly and satisfactorily made.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention belongs to makeand use thesame, I will proceed to describe it more in detail.

In the drawings, A represents the bed of the machine, and the partsmarked B B B B the legs or standards upon which said bed is supported.

G O are the bearings for the main drivingshaft D, and E E uprightstandards or housings in which turn the shafts F'G of feed-rolls F G.

Upon shaftl), at the back side of the machine, is securcd a.driving-pulley, H, which may be connected with any suitable andconvenient driving mechanism arranged above or below the machine. To theforward end of said shaft D is secured a cam, I, which forces up ahorizontal cross-piece, J, when the shaft is in operation. Saidcross-piece J is drawn down when the cam does not bear upon the same bymeans of spiral springs K K,secured to the under side of the cross-pieceand to the floor upon which the machine is Supported. Any other suitabledevice for drawing down said cross-piece may be employed, if desired.

A similar cross-piece, J, is also arranged near from the flat metalstrip k, are bent by means of the swinging cam-arms M M, (which arehinged at their lower ends at H to cross piece J,) and by the fingers LL, which are formed or secured on the heads L L of shafts L L the latterbeing partially turned or rocked in their bearings L L by racks'L L andpinions L L. Said pinions are secured to the ends of shafts L L whilethe racks are formed on the inner upper ends of vertical arms M 1W,which are hinged to cross-piece J, thus being operated up and down bycam I, so as to turn shafts L L part way around,

as shown by arrows in Figs. 1 and 6, when moved up, and back again whenmoved down. By the aforesaid operation the pins or turningfingers L Lbend the sections h of strip is around the surface of the heads L L upto the points shown by h h, when the bend is then completed by thecurved ends 1' r of the swinging or rockingarms M M being forced upagainst the curved surfaces It W, as hereinafter described.

Said cam-arms M Mare provided with camsurfaces m m upon their outersides, which are made to bear upon the rounded ends n n of adjustableparts it n by means of a flat or other spring, N, which bears againstthe inner sides of said cam-arms, as represented in Fig. 3 of thedrawings. In this instance spring N is made in hoop form, and secured atthe center to a detachable piece, 0, which is in turn secured tocross-piece J.

' In order that said cross-piece J and crosspiece J may be made totravel in vertical lines when operated by their cams I I and springs KK, ways are formed in the legs B B", as represented by dotted linesp inFigs. 1, 2, and 3, for them to slide up and down in. A guidepiece, 0, isalso secured to the cross-pieces at q g, which is provided with verticalholes through the same, so that it may slide up and down on verticalstationary rods P, secured in the under side of bed A. By the upwardmovement of cross-piece J it will be seen that the cam-arms M M, owingto the shape of their camsurfaces at m, will first travel in a verticalline for a short distance, for the purpose hereinafter stated, and thencommence to gradually move toward the former L, and by the time thebending-fingers L L have bent the section h around the heads L L asbefore described, the rounded ends r r of said camarms have reached theproper point to comnience bending the ends of the springs. They continueto travel toward the surface of the former L until they reach thepositions represented by dotted lines in Fig. 3 of the drawings, therebybending the metal strip it into the shape represented by dotted lines h,and finishing the spring,ready to be punched and secured to the rims ofthe eyeglasses.

The short section h is in this instance cut from the metal strip in thefollowing manner: To the top ofadjustable part a over the line traversedby the metal strip k, is secured a guide, a, through which said strippasses as it is fed forward, saidguide when securedin position forming arectangular-shaped opening, t, a trifle larger than the strip, asrepresented in Fig. 5. Similar-shaped guides au are also secured in aninverted position, as represented in Fig. 4, to the top of each of thearms M M. The end a of guide a and the end a of the guide a coming nextto guide a are made square and sharp, and of hardened steel, thusforming sharp cutting-edges at v v on said guides. Therefore when thearms move up in a vertical line, as. before stated, the section h is cutoff, preparatory to its being bent over the surface of the former L, bythe cutting-edge 12 passing by the stationary cutting-edge a, the stripis being held in position by bearing upon the under side of the guideit. (Shown in Fig. 5.)

Slots are formed in bed A, as is represented by lines A, for thereception of cam-arms M M M M", which also serve to hold the upper endsof said arms in position laterally when in operation.

Power is imparted from the main drivingshaft D to turn the feed-rolls FG by securing pulleys Q and R upon said shaft D and shaft G, andconnecting the same by means of an endless belt, S, fitted over saidpulleys.- The upper feed-roll, F, simply rests upon the lower one, andis turned by the latter, being fitted to turn in loose bearings FFfl-which slide up and down in suitable ways formed in the standards EE. It is forced down, so as to produce sufficient pressure upon themetal strip 70 to feed the same forward, by means of spiral springs T T,arranged between the upper sides of said loose bearings and the underside of acap-piece, U, secured to the tops of standards E E.

In order that a strong friction may be produced upon the strip k by thefeed-rolls F G to properly feed it forward when said rolls are inoperation, a band of rubber, leather, or similar material, a, is fittedand secured in a groove formed entirely around the periphery of roll G.A similar band, as, may also be secured over the periphery of the upperfeed-roll, F, if desire The rolls F G feed the strip 70 forward asufficient distance to form the spring, when said strip is then stoppedwhile a piece is cut off and bent over the former L, as beforedescribed, by the upper roll, F, being raised off of the surface of thestrip. This is done in this instance by securing or forming ribs 3 3(see Figs. 1 and 3) on the periphery of roll G at each side of the band20, the distance between their ends g/ 3 (shown in Fig. 3) being justsufficient to allow the strip to be fed forward the required distance.

If preferred, the feed-rolls may be arranged to alternately turn andstop to feed forward and stop the strip, as before'described, or anysimilar and convenient feeding mechanism employed for the purpose.

The parts a it, against which the cam-arms M M ear, are made adjustableby forming IIO slots 2 z in the same, so that they may be moved back andforth on their holding-screws z 2. They hear endwise against the ends ofadjusting-screws c 2, which turn in bed A. By adjusting said parts a ain or out and changing the form of the cam-surfaces m m of cam-arms M Mand that of the heads L" L, their fingers and former L, any desiredshape may be given to the eyeglasssprings made by the machine, thefeed-motion being made to conform therewith by lengthening or shorteningthe ribs or flanges y g on feed-roll G.

In this instance the former Lis represented as being recessed or cut outin circular form at each side to receive the heads L L and thebending-fingers L L formed or secured upon projecting ears or flangesformed upon said heads, the fingers being far enough from the surface ofthe heads to allow the metal strip to pass between themi. 6., betweenthe tingers and heads-but, if preferred, any other suitable way ofarranging and securing the fingers upon turning heads, so that they willbend the sections it over a suitable former, L, to form the springs h,may be employed.

The operation of the machine may be briefly summed up thus: Supposing along strip, k, to be coiled upon a suitable spool or reel arranged at ashort distance from the machine. The attendantpasses its loose endthrough a guide, V, secured to the side of one of the standards E. Hethen pushes it through between the rolls and into the machine by hand asufficient distance to form the first spring. He now starts the machine,when the ribs 3/ y on the lower feed-roll, G, immediately raise theupper feed-roll off of the strip la, so that it will not be fed fartherforward. The edges o and v on the cam arm M and guide a then cut thestrip to form the springsection 71, when said section is then bent intothe shape It to form the finished spring by the bendingfingers L L andcurved ends M" of arms M M, as before described. During the aforesaidoperation the ribs y y have traveled in contact with the upper roll, F,nearly their whole length, and by the time the cam-arms M M have beendrawn down and the bending-fingers L L turned back into their originalpositions, ready to form the next spring, the ends of said ribs pass outof action with said roll F, thus allowing the latter to drop down andbear upon the strip to feed it forward again, when the operation beforedescribed is repeated.

As the springs are finished upon the former L they may be pushed forwardoff of the former L, and discharged into a proper receptacle by means ofany suitable and convenient device.

Having described my aforesaid machine for manufacturingeyeglass-springs, whatl claim therein as new and of my invention, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Inamachinefor making eyeglasssprings from long fiat strips of metalby a continuous and automatic operation, the combination of a suitablerigid former, L, the heads L L provided with bending-fingers L L, themeans for operating said heads and fingers, the rocking cam-levers M M,the means for operating said levers, and the means for feeding forwardthe strips from which the springs are made, and for cutting them intosections of proper length to form said springs preparatory to thebending operation, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination of the former L with cam-arms M M, provided withcam-surfaces m m, guides to a", and cutter o, turning-heads L L'",provided with bending'fingers L L, guide it, provided with cutter o, bedA, feed rolls F G, provided with friction-bands w or and ribs y y, andguide V, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. The combination of feed-rolls F G with shafts F G, turning insuitable bearings, standards E E, springs T T, cap U, pulleys Q It,shaft D, bearings O G, and pulley H, substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

4. The combination of cam I on shaft D, spiral springs K K, or theirequivalents, and cross-piece J, with legs B 13, bed A, camarms M M,provided with guides aa, spring N, adjustable parts a a guide a, heads LL", provided with bending-fingers L L, and former L, substantially asand for the purposes set forth.

5. The combination of cam I on shaft D, spiral springs K K, or theirequivalents, and cross-piece J, with vertical arms M M, provided withracks L L, bed A, pinions L L, rocking shafts L L, bearings L L, headsL" L", provided with bending-fingers L L, camarms M M, and former L,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

6. The combination of former L with beads L L", provided withbendingfingers L L, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

7. The combination of former L with camarms M M, adjustable parts a narranged in proper supports, and cross-piece J, substantially as and forthe purposes set forth.

8, The combination of cams I I and springs K with cross-pieces J J, armsor levers M M M M", part 0, vertical rods P, and bed A, substantially asand for the purposes set forth.

9. The combination, with cam-arm M, provided with guide a" andcutting-edge o, and means for operating said earn-arm, of bed A,adjustable part a", an (:1 guide a, provided with cutting-edge o,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

10. The combination of cam-arms M M with bed A, and adjustable parts aa, provided with holding-nuts 2, slots .2, and adjustingscrews a,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

EDWIN J. WATSON. Vvitnesses:

ALBERT A. BARKER, WALTER B. N OURSE.

ICO

